Michael Ian Black Cast in ‘Gaffigan’

Michael Ian Black has been cast in Jim Gaffigan’s CBS sitcom Gaffigan, a source involved with the pilot tells Splitsider. Black will play Daniel, the gay best friend and former boyfriend of Jim’s wife Jeannie, who was played in the original pilot by Oscar winner Mira Sorvino. Black’s character will serve as the classier and more polished alternative to the much schlubbier Gaffigan; the character was swapped in place of a drag queen character from the original pilot who was Jim’s best friend.

Gaffigan’s sitcom has had a strange year. After making our list of “9 Comedy Pilots We Hope Get Picked Up This Year,” CBS passed on the pilot last season then announced plans to retool it back in August, which they have done before with shows like Rules of Engagement and The Big Bang Theory. Gaffigan is also written and co-executive produced by Peter Tolan (The Larry Sanders Show, Analyze This, Rescue Me) and Gaffigan’s real-life wife Jeannie.

UPDATE:Deadline reports that Ashley Williams, who had a recurring role on How I Met Your Mother last year, has been cast as Gaffigan’s wife Jeannie for the retooled show.

SECOND UPDATE: A source involved with the pilot now tells Splitsider that Adam Goldberg has been cast as Dave, Jim’s best friend and fellow standup comedian. According to the source, Dave is a “quintessential New Yorker based on several of Jim’s close friends and fellow standup comics that he started with in NYC.”